I’m back at work at my home office desk today and the weather sucked in Auckland and the north of the North Island over my break. Waiting for Luxon and minons blaming the government for not controlling La Niña – now in the third year of her current reign.It seems like all that National can do these days – blame the government for external events.
* or is it?
This morning a estimated 5.1 earthquake close to Te Aroha shook Hamilton, Tauranga, Auckland and Rotorua a region of half of our population. Only a day earlier National’s number 3 14 stupidly criticised a programme designed to diminish the risks in earthquakes. As usual National has no policy on dealing with earthquake risks that I can see. National simply aren’t ready for government.
Chris Luxon marked the anniversary of his becoming National leader this week by showing that he is that out of touch he had no idea what the single rate of superannuation is.
National is proposing a return of the Three Strikes legislation, despite the Supreme Court ruling that the law went well beyond excessive punishment and would shock the conscience of properly informed New Zealanders, and was so disproportionately severe as to breach the Bill of Rights. And despite there being no evidence that it would actually work.
There should be a law against the cynical recycling of dog whistle policies that everyone knows will not work. Last week’s announcement by National of a boot camp policy is as good an example as you can imagine.
Remember when a few leaders ago then National Leader Simon Bridges promised that National would be a 56 MP policy machine? Judging by its response to the Government’s release of two bills at the centre of RMA reform the machine has major problems.
National’s recent press releases show that its approach to politics will be relentlessly negative, with no idea of what it will do as an alternative or how it will fund changes.
Chris Luxon has avoided answering this question so far but he needs to be asked continuously about it. Is it fair that he as Prime Minister would receive under National’s proposed tax cuts a tax cut of $349 per week while a minimum wage worker would receive only $2.15 per week
Remember this scene from the Tauranga by election? National has decided it will not be repeated by ensuring that it has no potential white male candidates for the Hamilton West by election.
Leader of the Opposition Christopher Luxon turned up to Parliament today and his media spin doctors will be hoping for some good photo opportunities to lift his popularity. But they will be asking a lot.
Russ Jones has described the five tribes of the UK Conservative Party as including One Nation Conservatives, xenophobic English nationalists, wild-eyed libertarians, scatty populist bullshitters and machine politicians.
National’s attacks on Nanaia Mahuta for conflicts of interest have suffered a major blow after National MP Barbara Kuriger was forced to resign her portfolios for using official letterhead to harass MPI officials.
Something unusual has happened. Chris Bishop, or as we should now call him Comrade Chris, has come out fully in favour of a vast expansion of the provision of social housing for kiwis.
The only word that I can think of is clusterfuck. I cannot understand how badly Christopher Luxon has handled the Maria Dew report into what Sam Uffindell may have done when he was a younger person.
It appears that the Dew report may clear Sam Uffindell and he may be returned to National’s caucus.
National MPs and their supporters have been celebrating the removal of the mandate with weird levels of glee.
Yesterday National’s PR machine also known as Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB sprang into action to get the message out that National will not negotiate with Destiny Church over support. Even though eight days previously Chris Luxon pointedly did not rule this out.
Recent leaks and publicity have caused huge damage to Viv Beck’s campaign to become Auckland’s next mayor. They also highlight the stark difference between the left and the right in terms of campaigning.
This morning Christopher Luxon refused to rule out working with Freedoms New Zealand, the Brian Tamaki entity which has held mock trials, alleged senior Government figures should be tried for treason and have professed a desire to make the country ungovernable.
National’s media spin team is at it again claiming that removing interest rate deductibility for landlords is a “tenant tax” when it is neither a new tax nor for tenants.
The three strikes legislation, the brainchild of dead baby identity stealing former ACT MP David Garrett, is no more.
Radio New Zealand has published new allegations of bullying by National MP Sam Uffindell this time by a female flatmate who flatted with Uffindell while at University.
National MP Sam Uffindell has today been engaged in a media wide mea culpa after allegations that he bullied a young student and was expelled from Kings College have been publicised.
Remember when National’s Chris Bishop thought that Labour was not being staunch enough of mandates? He now thinks that Labour is being too staunch.
The kicker in Andrea Vance’s Blue Blood, her insider’s view of the splatter-movie that has been the National Party since John Key stepped down, is that the best yet is in production. She chronicles treachery that has become the modus operandi of the vacuous vipers inhabiting the caucus. Details of the dirty work induce you to turn the page for more. It doesn’t look like Luxon is the redeemer.
The question of what has happened to Christopher Luxon was answered yesterday in a shambolic messy way that must have National operatives in despair.
Andrea Vance’s book Blood Bath provides an insider’s view of the carnage that erupted in the National Party from 2017 to 2021. And while things have calmed down under Christopher Luxon’s his weaknesses, including his glossing over the importance of policy detail and his tendency to bag businesses has been noted.
Although we still compare favourably to the vast majority of Western nations in terms of our Covid response our performance has been eclipsed by Japan and Singapore, two nations which strong mask mandates and cultural norms supporting the wearing of masks.
During January of this year Christopher Luxon described the traffic light system as confusing. This week he described it as “very, very confusing”. It is of concern that he appears not to have learned about what the rules require in the meantime.
Remember Steven Joyce who claimed there was a $11.7 billion dollar hole in Labour’s alternative budget? Another example of his negotiation prowess has recently received media attention and the only conclusion that can be drawn is that his ability to analyse crown accounts is matched by his ability to negotiate.
Someone should send out the free speech police. Simon O’Connor has been muzzled and is being stopped from saying what he thinks.
National leader Christopher Luxon who has been previously reported as believing that abortion is murder, issued three public statements over the weekend trying to distance himself from the controversy caused by the US Supreme Court overturning of Rowe v Wade.
This morning on Morning Report Christopher Luxon was well and truly Susied as Susie Ferguson asked him how can we have tax cuts yet improved public services.
Christopher Luxton has proposed that social media posts showing gang members wearing bling should be censored. And in the United Kingdom Boris Johnson has railed against a ECHR decision which has upset his efforts to illegally extradite refugee status applicants to Rwanda. These are different examples of something the right is finessing, culture wars against minorities in breach of their rights for political advantage.
We are about to have a proper gang control policy contest. It’s about time.
